LRQA Independent Assurance Statement
Relating to Marubeni-Itochu Steel Inc.’s CO2 emissions Data for the fiscal year 2022
This Assurance Statement has been prepared for Marubeni-Itochu Steel Inc. in accordance with our contract.

Terms of Engagement
LRQA was commissioned by Marubeni-Itochu Steel Inc. (“the Company”) to provide independent assurance on its CO2
emissions data (“the report”) for the fiscal year 2022, that is, from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023, against the assurance
criteria below to a limited level of assurance and materiality of the professional judgement of the verifier using ISO
14064-3:2019.
Our assurance engagement covered the operations and activities of the Company and its subsidiaries in Japan andoverseas and specifically the following requirements:• Verifying conformance with the Company’s reporting methodologies for the selected datasets:• Evaluating the accuracy and reliability of data for only the selected indicators listed below:
CO2 emissions 1 2• Scope 1 GHG emissions (tonnes CO2e)• Scope 2 GHG emissions [Market-based] (tonnes CO2e)
Our assurance engagement excluded the data and information of the Company’s suppliers, contractors and any
third-parties mentioned in the report.
LRQA’s responsibility is only to the Company. LRQA disclaims any liability or responsibility to others as explained in
the end footnote. the Company’s responsibility is for collecting, aggregating, analysing and presenting all the dataand information within the Report and for maintaining effective internal controls over the systems from which theReport is derived. Ultimately, the Report has been approved by, and remains the responsibility of the Company.

LRQA’s Opinion
Based on LRQA’s approach nothing has come to our attention that would cause us to believe that the Company has
not, in all material respects:• Met the requirements of the criteria listed above• Disclosed accurate and reliable CO2 emissions data
The opinion expressed is formed on the basis of a limited level of assurance3 and at the materiality of the professional
judgement of the verifier.

LRQA’s Approach
LRQA’s assurance engagements are carried out in accordance with ISO 14064-3:2019. The following tasks were
undertaken as part of the evidence gathering process for this assurance engagement:• Auditing the Company’s data management systems to confirm that there were no significant errors, omissions
or misstatements in the report. We did this by reviewing the effectiveness of data handling procedures,instructions and systems, including those for internal verification.
123GHG quantification is subject to inherent uncertainty.
CO2 emissions from energy sources.
The extent of evidence-gathering for a limited assurance engagement is less than for a reasonable assurance engagement. Limited assurance
engagements focus on aggregated data rather than physically checking source data at sites. Consequently, the level of assurance obtained in alimited assurance engagement is lower than the assurance that would have been obtained had a reasonable assurance engagement been
performed.

Page 1 of 2••••Interviewing with those key people responsible for compiling the data and drafting the report.
Sampling datasets and traced activity data back to aggregated levels;
Verifying the historical data and records for the fiscal year 2022; andVisiting Shiga Plant of Beniuchu Coil Center Kansai, Inc., Head Office and Fukuoka Plant of YUTAKA STEELIndustries Co., Ltd. and Head Office of Marubeni-Itochu Steel Inc. to confirm the data collection processes,
record management practices, and to physically check emission sources.

Observations
The Company should further demonstrate the accuracy and reliability of its future reports. In particular, it isrecommended to establish mechanisms to ensure that the aggregation rules are thoroughly enforced, including
the clarification of calculation rules at each site.
LRQA’s Standards, Competence and Independence
LRQA implements and maintains a comprehensive management system that meets accreditation requirements for
ISO 14065 Greenhouse gases – Requirements for greenhouse gas validation and verification bodies for use inaccreditation or other forms of recognition and ISO/IEC 17021-1 Conformity assessment – Requirements for bodies
providing audit and certification of management systems – Part1: Requirements that are at least as demanding as
the requirements of the International Standard on Quality Control 1 and comply with the Code of Ethics forProfessional Accountants issued by the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants.
LRQA ensures the selection of appropriately qualified individuals based on their qualifications, training andexperience. The outcome of all verification and certification assessments is then internally reviewed by senior
management to ensure that the approach applied is rigorous and transparent.
LRQA is the Company’s certification body for ISO 14001. We also provide the Company with a range of training
services related to management systems. The verification and certification assessments, together with the training,are the only work undertaken by LRQA for the Company and as such does not compromise our independence orimpartiality.
SignedDated: 8 October 2023

Kazuyori Yukinaka
Lead Verifier
On behalf of LRQA Limited
10th Floor, Queen's Tower A, 2-3-1 Minatomirai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama, JAPANLRQA reference: YKA00001201
LRQA, its affiliates and subsidiaries, and their respective officers, employees or agents are, individually and collectively, referred to in this clauseas 'LRQA'. LRQA assumes no responsibility and shall not be liable to any person for any loss, damage or expense caused by reliance on theinformation or advice in this document or howsoever provided, unless that person has signed a contract with the relevant LRQA entity for theprovision of this information or advice and in that case any responsibility or liability is exclusively on the terms and conditions set out in thatcontract.
The English version of this Assurance Statement is the only valid version. LRQA assumes no responsibility for versions translated into otherlanguages.
This Assurance Statement is only valid when published with the Report to which it refers. It may only be reproduced in its entirety.
Copyright © LRQA, 2023.

Page 2 of 2